


Let Me Sleep, God Dammit!

by A55hole69



Series: Paint the Town [18]
Category: Marvel, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Platonic Cuddling, Sleep Deprivation, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24824173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A55hole69/pseuds/A55hole69
Summary: Peter felt like hot garbage after staring up at the ceiling all night, in the dead silence of his room. For some reason, he couldn't sleep. It had to have been three weeks since he got a good night's rest. He slept maybe sixteen hours in those three weeks, which was not healthy, and it was starting to show.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Original Male Character(s)
Series: Paint the Town [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1362460
Kudos: 62





	Let Me Sleep, God Dammit!

Peter was late. Again.

For the third morning that week and it was only Wednesday. He had no idea why he was always so late. He lived in the floor above Mr. Stark's workshop with Klaus, Klaus always woke him up early and fed him. But for some reason Peter always around himself getting to work late. 

This particular morning Peter felt like hot garbage, after staring up at the ceiling all night, in the dead silence of his room. For some reason, he couldn't sleep. It had to have been three weeks since he got a good night's rest. He slept maybe sixteen hours in those three weeks, which was not healthy, and it was starting to show.

The bags under his eyes were so big they could probably hold all of Klaus' clothes, all three walk in closets of clothes, including shoes. Peter always told him he had enough, but Klaus always rolled his eyes and continued buying fabric to make more. "It's good to have a little variety, my love." The blond always said.

Peter shook his head; he was getting off topic. 

Peter was tired, so tired in fact, he was actually considering taking sleeping pills from Klaus. He always declined because he was a hero, he couldn't go out and fight crime sluggish and unfocused. Someone could get hurt. But fighting crime while sleep deprived was so much worse. He didn't understand how much worse until a civilian almost died while he was on patrol the day before. Now he needed to find a way to sleep.

Peter stumbled into Tony's workshop, "Sorry I'm late, Mr. Stark." 

Tony snorted, "You literally live five minutes away and you're always late. I didn't think it was possible." 

Peter put his stuff away and moved next to Tony, "I'm really sorry." 

"I know you are kid." Tony ruffled his hair, "You look like shit. Did you get any sleep last night?" 

"I had like three consecutive minutes, you're not even that blurry. I don't know why I can't sleep, this has been happening for three weeks. Last night was the worst of it, and I don't think it's getting any better." 

"Why didn't you say something earlier? You live with three doctors." 

"Neither you nor Dr. Banner is a medical doctor, and Klaus is just going to give me drugs. I don't want drugs." 

"You could try the good sleeping pills, you aren't going to be able to have sex more than once a week, but it'll get the job done. I can guarantee." 

"I don't want to take drugs, because I don't want it to slow me down while I'm on patrol. Someone could get hurt." Peter looked at Tony, "You used to be like this all the time, what changed?"

Tony took a minute, and then smiled. "One night, before we started dating, Bucky dragged me out of the workshop. Literally, he dragged me up to my room, tucked me in, and sat next to me until I fell asleep. I remember that night, I had been up for four days straight, worrying about how I was gonna mess Klaus up. I do that a lot. Even now. Bucky talked me and rubbed his cold, metal hand on my chest, right where the reactor used to be, it used to hurt a little before he started doing that. I don't know how he knew that, or if he knew. But I remember it being the greatest thing I felt in a long time, even if it was something so simple, and I just dozed off for like sixteen hours. He does it unconsciously every night since that night, and I've been getting full nights of sleep since." 

Peter smiled at the story. As sweet as it was, it was useless. He didn't have anyone to rub his chest at night. Him and MJ had broken up a month ago. Which was probably why he couldn't sleep. Even though he slept fine for the first week. But he was with Klaus or Wade on those occasions. He couldn't just ask Klaus to sleep with him again, that would be weird. Even though they do it all the time. 

They hadn't been doing it much lately because his blond friend was busy all the time now. Klaus started his second internship with some famous designer he didn't know the name of. From the sound of it, he wasn't going to be free any time soon. He always spoke so highly of his new boss. 

He definitely couldn't ask Wade. It just wasn't appropriate, he lost his fiancee six weeks prior. The man had was in no position to help anyone when he was still throwing himself off buildings. Peter didn't even know where Wade was. Last he heard the merc was with the X-Men. 

Tony saw the glazed over look in Peter's eyes, "That's it, you're going to go back to your floor, and rest. Even if you just lay down and count sheep for nine hours. If you get hurt down here today, May will kill me. She already doesn't like me that much." 

Peter groaned, but agreed. He really didn't need his aunt coming to his work. Again. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Stark." 

"Not tomorrow, you're coming back to work after you sleep for eight hours of more." 

Peter groaned again, "But then I'll never get back to work." 

Tony shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you kid. Sleep with socks on, I heard that helps." 

______________

The socks didn't work. He knew they wouldn't work, but he was clinging to the hope that they would. He looked even worse than yesterday and Loki let him know exactly how bad. 

"I've been brutally murdered countless times, and brought back from the brink of death even more, and I still looked more alive than you do. A witch drained me of my life force until I was nothing but skin and bones, and yet I still looked better than you." 

Peter rolled his eyes at the god, "I get it, okay. I know I look bad, but I can't control it. I just can't sleep for some reason, and nothing is helping." 

Peter scoffed at himself. How desperate was he to show how vulnerable he was in front of the trickster? Peter didn't trust Loki at all, he didn't even understand why Klaus liked him. Loki was always looking for ways to manipulate everyone. Always lying and cheating, but never with Klaus. Peter could tell that his love for the blond was entirely genuine, and that was the only reason he tolerated him.

"I can put a sleep spell on you, if you want." 

Peter shook his head, "No spells, I don't trust you." 

Loki smirked, "And you never should. I would've turned you into a cat, maybe a pig. Definitely a pig. Everyone would call you Spider Pig, better yet Spider Ham. That would be hilarious. Sunshine would be angry at me, but it would be worth it." 

Peter scoffed and got up to leave the god on the couch, "Thanks for the help." 

Loki stopped him, "When I was younger, my mother would make me warm milk and honey when I couldn't sleep. Maybe try it, see if it works." 

Peter nodded, "We'll see." 

"Good. I've seen skeletons that look more alive than you. I wouldn't be surprised if you dropped dead right here." 

"Fuck off, Loki."

________________

"I've tried everything, and nothing is working. Maybe I'm not supposed to sleep. Maybe this is a message from the gods telling me I did something bad. That's the only reason I could think of to cause them to forsake me." 

Peter ranted to Bruce, who just sat there sipping his tea. "You do know I'm not a sleep doctor right? I just want to make that clear. Tony thinks I'm a therapist for some reason, and everyone else comes to me when they have a cold. I'm a physicist, not a medical doctor." 

"Weren't you tending to sick people when you were in hiding? I remember reading the file, it said you gave people medicine. You have to know something."

Bruce rolled his eyes, "Giving out pain killers and stitching up wounds is something anyone can do. That's like first year of med school. What you need is a real doctor, to tell you why you can't sleep. You know, like your friend. The one you live with. The one who graduated from med school and did his residency at a psychiatric hospital." 

Peter sighed, "I don't want to bother Klaus, he's busy. Besides, he'll just give me some drug he was working on that'll knock me out for six months or something." 

Bruce shrugged, "Try meditating right before bed, have a cup of chamomile tea. Maybe medical marijuana, but you'll need a prescription from a doctor for that. I don't know kid. I have to get back to work. Enjoy the rest of your day." 

______________

Bucky found Peter half asleep in the communal kitchen, leaning against the kitchen island with a glass of water in front of him. He tapped Peter on the shoulder, and the boy fell off his chair in fright. Bucky chuckled a bit and moved to to the cabinets. "Still can't sleep kid?" The ex-assassin caught the look of confusion in the kid's face, "Tony told me this morning, said you looked like shit yesterday so he sent you home. Since you don't look much better, I'm guessing you still can't sleep." 

"It's impossible at this point, I'm starting to consider sleeping pills." 

Bucky shook his head, "Drugs won't work, your metabolism is too fast. My best bet is, your room is too cold. I know my son, Klaus doesn't like warmth, he's weird like that." 

Peter shook his head, "That's not it. He let me adjust the thermostat, and he sleeps with a fan." 

"Then I have no idea what to tell you kid. Maybe get a body pillow, the one pregnant women use. I have one for when Tony leaves the country, it's really nice." Bucky took down a jar of cookies, "Cookie?"

"Aren't those Clint's?" 

Bucky shrugged, "What's he gonna do about it?" 

Peter bit his lip, "Can I have one?" 

_______________

The body pillow was practically a god send, but he got two maybe three hours of sleep, and he still felt like shit in the morning. He walked into the kitchen and found Wade in his underwear, sitting on the golden kitchen island, eating a plate of bacon. Like he hadn't been gone for almost two weeks. Last he heard, the Merc was off killing a bunch of paedophiles with his new friend, Cable.

Wade perked up when he saw Peter drag himself through the kitchen, "Baby boy! Good morning, Klaus made breakfast...again, then he went downstairs to talk to his dad. Loki went back to Asgard this morning so we have the floor to ourselves today. What do you wanna do? We can do an early patrol, or watch some t.v, do some coke. Your choice." 

Peter sat down at the kitchen island and dropped his head on the counter top, "I just wanna sleep." 

"You should go to Klaus, he's like the master of sleep. Even though I've never actually seen him sleep. When I can't sleep, he makes porridge with cookie butter, then he makes me take a hot bath, then he drowns me in a sea of the softest blankets ever. I think that's the only reason I'm friends with, I can't figure out how to do that on my own. That's not true, he's also the only person that can make red velvet cake how I like it." Wade went on a little rant about red velvet cakes, but Peter tuned him out.

He was desperate. He couldn't take it any more, he needed to sleep. None of the advice he was given worked. None of it. The closet he got to a good night's sleep was the pillow. He couldn't do this any longer, he had shit to do. He had patrol to go on, a job.

Peter sighed and dropped his head on the counter top. Wade cleared his throat, "So, do you want your breakfast, or can I have it? Klaus made chocolate chip pancakes." 

Peter waved him off, "Whatever."

"Yay!" 

_____________

The next time he saw Klaus was midnight two nights later, the blond was in his workshop sewing something together, with German death metal playing on full blast. His hair was tied up into a small bun, and his gold framed glasses were perched on his nose. There was a deep green fabric folded on the floor by his right foot, and a black kitten sleeping by his left. The cat wasn't anything surprising, Klaus brought in strays all the time, it was nothing new. 

Peter sighed in exhaustion, "Jarvis." The music suddenly stopped playing and Klaus frowned and looked up.

"Oh, hi Pete. What's wrong?" 

"I need your help." Peter pleaded. Klaus dropped the cloth in his hand, and stood up. The kitten by his foot woke up and followed him to Peter. He looked down at the cat, "Who's this?" 

Klaus smiled and picked up the kitten, "This is Lucifer and we're keeping him. His last owners gave him away because he was too clingy. Lucifer meet your new brother, Petey pie." The kitten mewed, but Peter was way too exhausted to react. "So, what's the problem? You don't smell sick, you smell funny but not sick. So thank god for that." 

"I've been having trouble sleeping. Have been for a few weeks now, and I've tried everything. Nothing's working, and I'm desperate. I even took Loki's advice, and you know how much I hate him." 

Klaus frowned in disappointment and looked away for a second. Peter started regretting what he said a little. Klaus knew his best friends didn't like each other, and after years of trying to help them get along, the blond just started ignoring it. Now he just frowns a little when it's brought up, and changes the subject.

"Why can't you sleep?" 

"I wish I knew." 

"As I said, you don't smell sick, meaning it's in your head. Did you have a routine? Did you change something in the past few weeks?" 

Peter shook his head, "Only thing that changed is MJ doesn't sleep in the same bed anymore." 

"Did you two always spoon each other?" 

Peter nodded, "Why?" 

Klaus took off his glasses and rest them down on the sewing table. He turned off the sewing machine and put away the thing he was working on, then he grabbed Peter's hand. He lead the exhausted twenty-one year old to his bedroom. 

"You know that I can't sleep in there, it always smells like weed." 

"I stopped smoking like a week ago, it doesn't smell like weed any more." Klaus opened his door and true to his word, no weed. It did smell like cookies strangely enough. 

"How come you stopped smoking?" Peter asked.

"Jonny is an asthmatic, so I put the pot in brownies, or cookies, even lollipops. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices if you want to get laid." Klaus put a sleeping Lucifer on his pillow, and motioned at the bed, "Get in. I have to go brush my teeth." 

Peter got into the bed and almost cried at how soft the mattress was. His bed was soft, but Klaus' just hit different. He played with the rose gold duvet, while he waited, and listened to Klaus in the bathroom. 

"Hey Klaus? Why are you up so late? Don't you have to work tomorrow?"

Klaus' head popped through the door, "I quit yesterday." 

Peter frowned, "Why? I thought you liked this one." 

"It's the same everywhere. Everyone thinks they can bully you, because you didn't struggle to get the job like they did. They're all horrible. So I'm gonna do my own thing. It's not like I need the job anyway, I'm not tight on cash like the rest of them." Klaus went back into the bathroom.

"What about standing up to bullies? You were always the one to tell me to stand up for myself, and now you're rolling over and letting them win. What the hell happened?" 

Klaus came back out and turned off his bathroom light, "I'm not letting anyone win. I learned that sometimes kicking them out of your life is better for your mental health. I know I'm better than them, and I refuse to waste my time on people who are beneath me." The blond got under the cover next to him.

"Why did you go to med school? You've known since high school that you wanted to make clothes, but you went to med school. You're technically a doctor, but you don't actually do anything with that. Why didn't you just go to a fashion school or whatever? I don't know what you call it."

Klaus chuckled, "I can learn how to make clothes off YouTube. Making clothes is easy. Art is easy. I don't need school for that. But what am I supposed to do if you or my family was to get seriously hurt? I'm useless in a fight, so I went to med school so I could help in some other way. I'm the field medic that makes everyone look fabulous." 

"You could kick my ass. You have kicked my ass before. You are in no way useless in a fight, and you can manipulate gold, turn it into whatever you want. You could possibly be the second most powerful person on the Avengers."

"Not even close. It's my dad, then Thor, then Dr. Banner, then Nat, then Clint, then you, then Steve, then Winter, then Sam. I'm not even an Avenger, and I don't want to be. I've been in combat before and I hate it. All these rules you have to follow, the orders. Ugh, kill me. Chaos is more my thing. Fighting with no rules, no honour, you just break everything you can until you win. I grew up with all these rules, if I didn't follow I'd be beaten until I was bleeding and crumpled up on the cold ground. When I realised they could never kill me, I rebelled more, and took more beatings, and after a while, I grew to enjoy it." 

Peter stared at Klaus to see if he was being serious, but he could see there was not going to be a just kidding after that. "I'm really glad that you're a good guy, because you would make a terrifying villain." 

"If I was a bad guy no one would know until everyone was dead. You guys would be standing in the ashes of the old world, staring at the corpses of your friends and family. While I sit on the highest building watching the rest of the world burn." Klaus scared Peter with that imagery, and he prayed to his that the blond was really kidding this time. When Klaus started giggling, he knew it was fine.

"You are a disturbing individual."

"Thank you. Now turn around." 

Peter followed his direction, "Why? How the hell is this gonna to help me sleep?" 

Klaus spooned him and held him tight against his chest. His hand snaked up to Peter's head and scratched his scalp. "You're used to being the little spoon. Don't argue, I know because I've met MJ, and there is no way she would ever be the little spoon." Peter closed his mouth, "Your mind got so used to someone holding you and basically watching over you as you slept that it can't really adjust to being alone. You need to be held by a warm body. I'll hold you until you can figure your shit out." 

Peter yawned. The head scratching was really nice, like really nice. He could feel himself slipping, his eyes kept closing slowly and opening again. "Thank you." 

"It's nothing." 

Peter didn't know when he fell asleep, one second he could feel his friend's fingers running through his hair, then the next, he was waking up in an empty bed to car horns and the smell of pizza. He felt disoriented, like he just woke up in some alternate dimension. There was drool on the right side of his face, his throat was drier than a desert, and he had cotton mouth. 

He stumbled out of Klaus' bed to the bathroom, where he washed his face and brushed the disgusting taste of morning breath out of his mouth. Peter yawned and stretched out his joints, sighing when he heard them pop. 

He felt magnificent. For the first time in weeks, Peter felt good, normal, better than normal. All he needed right now was a cup of coffee, and some pancakes. Hopefully Klaus made some.

Peter walked into the kitchen to see Klaus icing a four layer red velvet cake, while Wade played with Lucifer. Without even looking up Klaus greeted him, and Wade turned to smile at him. "Look who's awake. We thought you were dead, Baby boy. Been asleep for almost two days now." 

"Do you want some cake?" Klaus asked.


End file.
